On October 7, during a concert with the Royal Danish Orchestra and Sylvain Cambreling at Copenhagen’s DR Koncerthuset, Pierre-Laurent Aimard was presented with the prestigious 2022 Leonie Sonning Music Prize. As well as receiving a cash prize of a million Danish kroner, the pianist was celebrated with a dedicated weeklong festival in Copenhagen and Aarhus (Oct 4–9). Aimard says:

“Receiving the Leonie Sonning Music Prize is a great honor, and it gave me the chance to take part in an intensive week of artistic collaboration. I loved discovering and playing for the first time the music of Rued Langgaard and I enjoyed sharing Messaien’s Harawi with talented young Danish musicians.”

Aimard has performed regularly in Denmark throughout his career. He made his Danish debut in 1977 at just 19, when he undertook the solo role in Messiaen’s Turangalîla-Symphonie. Since then, the pianist has made several appearances with the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, performing multiple concertos by Ravel. In March 2021, during one of the recent pandemic lockdowns, he gave a solo recital of György Kurtág’s music at the DR Koncerthuset, which was available exclusively for radio listeners. Aimard has also performed Stravinsky with Copenhagen’s Collegium Musicum and has given a solo recital in the city’s Tivoli Concert Hall.

Click here to watch 2022 Léonie Sonning Prize Documentary Film.